Stevia – Sweet Stevia for new life
Stevia – Sweet Stevia for new life
Because stevia is natural and derived from the leaf of a plant, it does not contain any dangerous chemicals often found in artificial sweeteners. Stevia is safe for diabetics, has been shown to help forestall tooth rot, and has even been counseled by the World Health Organization to be used as therapy for hypertension. By replacing sugar with stevia, consumers could potentially decrease caloric intake, helping to reduce obesity and other associated health risks.
Stevia rebaudiana is a South American plant that grows in semi-arid areas of Brazil and Paraguay. The leaves of the plant have been used for generations as a sweetener, originally by the Guarani people and more recently throughout South America and East Asia. A campaign of intimidation against stevia firms by the FDA has so far prevented the sweetener from being licensed to be used in foods in the united states or Europe, but it is at present sold as a supplement and has gained main line acknowledgment as a safe, natural, calorie-free sweetener.
Various writers have feted the taste of the extracts, that has much less of the bitter after-taste prevalent in most noncaloric sweeteners. As well as Japan, other govts have authorized stevia and stevioside, including those of Brazil, China and South Korea, amongst others. Unfortunately, the US was destined to be a different story. Stevia has been safely employed in this country for over ten years, but a few years ago, the difficulty commenced.
apart from having no calories, stevia could also have some health benefits. The herb has been widely used to treat diabetes in South America, and animal research has shown promising results. Human studies have reported falls in blood sugar levels when stevia was taken in healthy volunteers, but there is currently a lack of definitive evidence of effectiveness when employed in patients with diabetes. Further research is needed in this area to approve these findings.
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